Aussie police now warn about Google Maps

Aussie cops, who were warning about Apple maps being pants, are now saying something similar about the rival product from Google. Earlier this week, Aussie cops warned that Apple maps was sending drivers off into a waterless, scorching desert, to die horribly through a lack of water. We thought at the time that this made Apple maps use an indication that Apple fanboys would eventually die out, thanks to Darwin’s laws.

But now another another Australian authority, this time in Colac, has issued a warning about Google Maps. It is not as bad as the Apple case and Google has a reasonable explanation for why Maps sends drivers where it does. Google Maps sends drivers down a one-way road called Wild Dog Road that was not designed for heavy traffic. In doing so, Google Maps is creating a “significant safety issue for tourists, locals.” The road in question lies near the Great Ocean Road in Colac, which is near Melbourne in southern Australia.

Google says that drivers are only directed down Wild Dog Road if the destination is located on that road. If the destination is located nearby, Maps will use a route that takes drivers down either Skenes Creek Road or Forrest Apollo Road, avoiding Wild Dog Road. If this is the case, it is not really clear what the coppers are banging on about as Google only sends users down the road if they are visiting someone which is actually on Wild Dog Road. The only other way would be to fly.

Colac’s police sergeant said he was concerned is that one day he is going to be asked by a coroner what he had done about the problem. He is worried about a bus crashing on the road. Still he advised using Apple maps instead, as a bus going to Wild Dog Road would probably crash somewhere near London.